Learn SEO Like Rand Fishkin Would

Two years ago, Rand Fishkin (the CEO and co-founder of SEOmoz) wrote an excellent post about learning SEO: 6 Ways to Learn SEO.

Many of the resources listed in that post are still extremely valuable; however, a lot has changed in two years. To help keep you current, I’m going to channel my inner Rand and give you an updated list of resources to learn SEO.

Free Online Guides

One of the fastest ways to learn SEO basics is through an online guide. The best guides contain a wealth of information, and they are updated regularly. But before we dive into a few examples, let’s watch Rand give us an overview of SEO:

For more introductory information, here are a few of the best free SEO guides:

(1) SEOmoz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO – This is one of the most popular (it’s been read over 1 million times) and most informative guides you’ll find. It’s broken into 10 chapters, and it covers topics such as how search engines operate, keyword research, basic link building, and how to measure the success of your SEO campaigns. Best of all, the guide was updated in May 2012.

(2) Rand’s Introduction to SEO – This presentation (shown below) is a little dated (August 2010), but it is still incredibly useful. It includes 150 slides, and as Rand explains, “It covers the search engine landscape, the SEO process, keyword research, link building and the emergence of social media as a ranking signal.”

(4) Search Engine Land’s What Is SEO / Search Engine Optimization? Guide – This “guide” is actually a collection of valuable resources, including an introductory video, The Periodic Table Of SEO Ranking Factors (shown below), a Guide To SEO that explains the periodic table, and a few of the site’s most popular articles.

Published Books

Sometimes people just enjoy having a book in their hands, and if you fall into that category, there are plenty of solid introductory SEO books to choose from. Unfortunately, every book on this list is already outdated to a certain extent (that’s just the nature of the industry), but they’re still useful for learning SEO fundamentals.

Blogs, Articles, Videos, and Forums

Online guides and books are great for establishing a foundation of SEO knowledge, but for the latest and greatest insights from the community, you should spend some time every day (or at least every week) reading and interacting with industry blogs and forums.

Articles

The blogs listed in the previous section are great for following new developments in the industry, but until you learn SEO fundamentals, they can be a bit overwhelming. To help speed up the SEO learning process, here are a few of the most useful articles that have been written about various SEO topics:

Keyword Research

The Ultimate Guide to Keyword Research – The title says it all. This is, in fact, the ultimate guide to keyword research. It covers the different types of keywords, how to find them, how to use them for blogging, and how to use them for affiliate marketing.

Content Marketing

The Complete Guide to Blogging for your Business – In this guide, James Agate teaches you how to build your business through blogging. A few of the topics he covers include why you should blog, what you should write about, and how you should promote what you’ve written.

The Noob Guide to Link Building – In this article, Mike King outlines a six month link building action plan that is designed to help “noobs” (i.e., people that are new to the SEO game) attract links to their sites.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

The SEOgadget Guide to Conversion Rate Optimization – This infographic (and corresponding explanation) by Richard Baxter and the SEOgadget team is one of the best resources you will find about CRO. It breaks down the entire process, and it offers actionable advice every step of the way.

Local SEO

Local Search Ranking Factors – Every year, David Mihm releases a list of important ranking factors for local SEO (based on feedback from the best local SEO practitioners in the industry). It’s a must-read if you want to improve an organization’s local search ranking.

Social Media

The Beginner’s Guide to Social Media – This guide actually consists of 5 individual guides that discuss how to use the following social networking communities: Tumblr, LinkedIn, Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter.

The Ultimate Google+ SEO Guide – In this article, A.J. Kohn provides the definitive guide to Google+ SEO. If you have any questions about Google+, this is the first resource you should consult.

Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising

Google AdWords: The Small Business Guide – This is an excellent interactive guide to PPC advertising using Google AdWords. It offers a step-by-step approach to creating and managing a campaign, and at each step, it also offers links to additional resources.

Miscellaneous

A Stalker’s Guide to Competitive Research – In this article, Selena Narayanasamy provides a comprehensive approach to competitive research. If you want to investigate a competitor’s strategy (and you should), this is the first post you should read.

Search Engine Ranking Factors – This is an excellent resource that helps quantify the relative importance of various signals (e.g., number of unique linking root domains, number of social shares, etc.) for ranking in the search engines.

The New SEO Process (Quit Being Kanye) – In this article, Mike King describes the old SEO process (in which SEO is incorrectly treated like it exists in a vacuum) and provides a new process that embraces the expanded role of SEO and its integration into the overall marketing mix.

Dealing With The Increasing Complexity and Volume of SEO Tasks – This is an incredibly in-depth discussion of the ever-expanding list of tasks that fall under the SEO umbrella. It describes numerous topics (e.g., brand building, social integration, local SEO, etc.), and it offers many helpful resources for each of those topics.

For even more articles, be sure to check out the community-curated content at Inbound.org.

Videos

I enjoy reading as much as the next guy, but it’s usually more fun to learn SEO by watching videos. With that in mind, here are a few popular video collections:

Whiteboard Friday Videos – Every Friday, SEOmoz releases a new educational video about an SEO-related topic. The videos are an excellent way to end the SEO workweek.

SEO Book Free Videos – SEO Book offers a subset of their training videos for free. These videos cover topics such as keyword research, on-page SEO, and link building.

We can’t have a section on videos without actually showing a video so here’s a popular Whiteboard Friday video about SEO myths:

Forums

After you’ve read a few articles and watched a few videos, you’ll probably have a few lingering SEO questions. Fortunately, there are a number of forums that will allow you to ask those questions and interact with other SEO enthusiasts.

Using this checklist, Danny guides you through the process of creating a website (and getting it hosted), identifying keywords, performing basic on-page and off-page SEO, and monitoring your efforts. Combine Danny’s step-by-step approach with the resources above, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a full-fledged SEO!

Social Media

As you continue to expand your theoretical and practical SEO knowledge, it’s important to begin participating in the SEO conversation taking place through social media.

Social media has become a critical component of this industry, and it offers at least 3 benefits:

Relationship Building – We all know the value of strong industry relationships, and social media helps facilitate the creation of those relationships, regardless of geographic location.

Information Sharing – The SEO community is incredibly helpful and openly willing to answer questions and exchange ideas.

Knowledge Leadership – Once you begin making your own contributions to the SEO knowledge base, social media is an excellent forum for promoting those contributions and establishing yourself as an industry leader.

You can also find local SEO events by contacting your local Chamber of Commerce.

Conclusion

Obviously, there are many different ways to learn SEO. You can read online guides and blogs. You can watch educational videos. You can exchange ideas through social media or in the real world.

No matter how you decide to learn, the important thing is that you actually start learning… and don’t stop. Like most technology-based industries, the world of SEO is constantly evolving, and it requires ongoing education.

With that in mind, I’d love to hear how you learned SEO. What helped you the most, and what advice do you have for SEO newbies?

About The Author

Steve Webb is an SEO audit specialist at Web Gnomes. He received his Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, where he published dozens of articles on Internet-related topics. Professionally, Steve has worked for Google and various other Internet startups, and he's passionate about sharing his knowledge and experiences with others. You can find him on Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn.